The Mysterious Devil Fruit

City of Water, Commercial Street.

More than forty pirates from the Watson Pirates were wantonly looting anything valuable in sight from the streets—money, food, women...

At that moment, they were like beasts wearing human skin. The flames of desire in their hearts burned fiercely, and anyone who dared resist was killed without mercy.

"Hey! You trash pirates...! Your captain, Watson Logan, with a bounty of 35 million Belly, has already been slaughtered by me... Who else here has a bounty on their head? Come out and die obediently!"

Still in his vampire form, Sephiroth dragged Watson Logan's corpse and flung it into the central square of Commercial Street. His face wore an unrestrained, crazed smile.

When the pirates who had been looting saw their captain's corpse, their movements immediately froze. It was as though a bucket of cold water had extinguished much of the fire of desire in their hearts.

However...

Among the pirates, a man holding two pistols, wearing rimless glasses, and sporting slicked-back black hair immediately had his eyes light up when he heard Sephiroth's shout.

His gaze instinctively turned toward the distance, and he was delighted to discover that Andrew Bass was dead too!

The bespectacled man was George Deon, the Watson Pirates' third-in-command, strategist, and navigator. His bounty was 5 million Belly.

To be honest, he had long since grown sick of Watson Logan, the first mate, and Andrew Bass, the second mate—those two brainless brutes.

They always relied on their brute strength to act recklessly and never bothered to use their brains, just like with this raid.

He had already warned them that although the City of Water had extensive waterways, allowing their pirate ship to reach Commercial Street directly through invisibility, thanks to their familiarity with the waterways...

But...

When they retreated, the Marines, who knew the terrain, would not let them off easily. They would definitely find a way to block the waterways and make them pay dearly.

That stupid, damned captain possessed such a convenient Devil Fruit ability. He could have been unstoppable while raiding merchant ships at sea and made a fortune, yet he insisted on coming ashore to get himself killed!

Well, now both idiots were dead!

If he took this chance to kill Sephiroth...

Then perhaps he could gather the other pirates under his command and become the new captain!

Besides...

George Deon knew that Watson Logan had actually hidden a Devil Fruit inside a treasure chest in the Captain's Cabin. He had kept it tightly concealed and never shown it to anyone. He was probably planning to take it to an auction house in the Sabaody Archipelago, trade it, and make a huge sum of money...

If he ate that Devil Fruit, he would surely gain an ability as powerful as Watson Logan's!

At that thought, George Deon nearly laughed aloud, but he forcibly held it back.

"Brothers, don't panic! He's alone, while there are more than forty of us! If each of us fires one shot, we can turn him into a beehive!"

After speaking, the bespectacled man was the first to raise his dual pistols, pull the triggers, and fire at Sephiroth.

Bang! Bang!

Hearing this, the pirates all felt greatly reassured. Moreover, this was an order from the ship's third-in-command, so they had no reason not to obey.

Bang bang...!

Continuous gunfire rang out, but Sephiroth remained utterly fearless. There was even a faint excitement in his eyes.

Amid the hail of bullets, his body moved like a fish through water. With the Observation Haki he had just awakened, he predicted every bullet that would strike his body.

Suddenly!

A bullet flew straight toward his forehead. Following that strange sensation in his heart, Sephiroth swiftly swung the Autumn Leaf Blade in his hand.

The sharp blade struck the rapidly spinning bullet. Like cutting through butter, it instantly split the bullet in two.

Amid the scattering sparks, the two broken fragments flew past his body.

Sephiroth's extreme evasive movements stunned the pirates. They could not imagine that, under such dense firepower, he could emerge completely unharmed. And... had he just cut a bullet apart with his sword?

Just as the pirates fell into confusion again, Sephiroth had already rushed before George Deon.

At close range, the bespectacled man repeatedly pulled the triggers and fired his dual pistols, but Sephiroth easily dodged every shot. He swung the Autumn Leaf Blade with force, slashing it into the man's neck.

Blood immediately sprayed out!

People in the world of the Pirate King had excessively tenacious vitality. Even taking several knife wounds might not kill them, so Sephiroth generally aimed for vulnerable fatal points like the throat when attacking.

If cutting open their throat and severing the carotid artery still did not kill them, then he could only stab their heart a few more times!

Seeing this, the pirates beside George Deon all revealed horrified expressions. Even the hands gripping their weapons began to tremble.

Before they could react, Sephiroth swung his blade again, cutting down two more pirates in succession.

"The Marines! The Marines are here!"

"Run!"

Overwhelmed by panic, one pirate shouted, turned around, and ran.

That shout became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The pirates had already lost their leaders, and now the Marines had arrived. They instantly lost all will to fight. Like rats in the street, they fled in panic, diving into alleys in every direction.

Before long, those pirates had completely vanished...

Sephiroth let out a long breath, released his vampire form, and sheathed his sword.

Looking at the five Marines running toward him from the distant street, he could not help muttering softly, "They got here fast! There are just a little too few of them..."

Soon, he saw the man in the lead. He was a bearded man... the Marine captain he had encountered when he went to enlist.

"Huh!? It's you, kid?"

The bearded man looked surprised. He sized up the blood-soaked youth before him, then looked at the pirate corpses nearby.

"George Deon, bounty 5 million Belly. Watson Logan, bounty 35 million Belly!!!"

"You killed them all?"

Sephiroth scratched his head and said somewhat surprisingly, "Ah! So that glasses-wearing trash had a bounty too! No wonder he was so arrogant..."

The bearded captain looked speechless as he gazed at Sephiroth, silently muttering to himself, This guy is definitely destined for great things. He might even become a high-ranking officer someday. I need to curry favor with him quickly and make sure I never offend him!

Thinking this, the bearded man gave a light cough and spoke in a slightly ingratiating tone, "Ahem! Sephiroth... Do you need us to bring all these wanted criminals' corpses back to the Marine base? You can go directly to the base to collect the bounties later... Oh, right. By regulation, we Marines have to seize pirate ships... But since you defeated these pirates, we can't let you lose out. How about this? The treasures aboard the pirate ship are all yours. Once you've moved everything away, we'll take the pirate ship back to the Marine base. What do you think?"

"Mm! Then I'll trouble you."

Sephiroth nodded, agreeing to the suggestion.

The reason the bearded man had arrived at the scene so quickly was actually because he had been nearby, investigating and reviewing the background information of recruits who had signed up for the Marines.

The pirate attack had happened suddenly, but he could not simply stand by.

After calling the Marine base for reinforcements, he hurried to the scene, intending to stall for time until the support force arrived.

But he never expected that Sephiroth would single-handedly wipe out all the officers of the Watson Pirates, while the remaining forty-plus pirates had been frightened into fleeing in every direction.

Hm!?... Wait a moment, they still had to hunt down the fleeing pirates throughout the entire City of Water.

At that thought, the bearded captain felt a headache coming on and silently cursed, What a pain!

On the other side, Sephiroth had already boarded the two-masted sailing ship and was searching everywhere for valuables.

When he passed a tightly locked cabin with a sign reading "Captain's Cabin" hanging on the door, his eyebrows rose slightly.

He transformed into his vampire form, tensed the muscles in his legs, and fiercely kicked the cabin door.

Bang!

After a loud crash, the wooden door fell to the ground.

Stepping on the door, Sephiroth entered the Captain's Cabin.

The furnishings in the cabin were very simple: a desk and chair, a large bed, a wardrobe, and two rifles crossed on the wall...

With a quick sweep of his eyes, he spotted a locked treasure chest sitting quietly in the corner.

He searched the Captain's Cabin thoroughly but could not find the key. He figured the key to the treasure chest was probably still on Watson Logan's body...

However, he had a better way to open locks!

Sephiroth took one of the rifles from the wall. He pulled back the bolt and discovered that it was already loaded.

He aimed the muzzle at the iron lock on the outside of the treasure chest and pulled the trigger. After a bang, the lock was violently blown open.

Sephiroth eagerly opened the treasure chest, only to discover with some disappointment that it contained only a small pile of gold coins, three stacks of banknotes, and a small wooden box...?

"Huh? What could be so troublesome that it has to be stored in a separate box..."

Muttering to himself, he casually lifted the lid of the unlocked wooden box.

When he clearly saw the green, gourd-shaped fruit inside, covered in circular spiral patterns, his heart instantly skipped a beat.

"This is... a Devil Fruit?"

In this world, Devil Fruits ranged in price from 100 million Belly to 5 billion Belly. They were also priceless commodities, things one could only hope to encounter by chance.

In actual auctions, as long as the Devil Fruit ability was not too useless, it could generally sell for over 1 billion Belly.

When ordinary people obtained a Devil Fruit, most would fall into hesitation. Should they eat it and gain an unknown ability, or take it to auction and earn a huge sum of money, allowing themselves to live out the rest of their lives in wealth?

Only extravagant wastrels like the Celestial Dragons would be willing to feed Devil Fruits to slaves, using them for entertaining performances...

Sephiroth carefully searched through his memories, but he still could not find anything related to this Devil Fruit.

In the end, he decided to store the Devil Fruit away for now. Once he obtained a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia and learned its effects, it would not be too late to decide what to do with it...